hereas we dreamed of the 21st century as a century of peace where people of different creeds and cultures would live together in harmony and respect for human rights, the reality is quite the opposite. The threat of war is in the air. The most powerful nation of this moment tries to force a global alliance to undo, once and for all, the power of evil, but the effort seems to camouflage ulterior motives for its own benefit. But, Martin Luther King Jr.'s insight still rings true:
Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.
In this world we need to hear another voice: the voice of justice and solidarity, the necessary prerequisites for true and lasting peace.
Therefore, it's urgent we contribute to building up a true communion of churches where all learn from and assist one another in presenting the message of our Lord as a liberating message of justice and peace for the benefit of all people in the whole world! Peace only comes hand in hand with justice. If one is missing, the other does not follow.
God is love. To teach us how to love one another, God inspired religions. God himself does not have a religion and can be found through all religions. As water takes the shape of the bottle which contains it, so religions take on the traces of the cultures in which they are born.
Through the centuries there have been quarrels and wars among people which professed different religions, and, too many times, religion got mixed up with political and economic reasons. So, history tells us of European Christian countries, for example, which, interested in conquering Africa, fought the religions of the Africans. And look at the flash points of violence across the world in the last decade, and today.
Yet, all religions teach love as the attitude which most draws us close to God and to our fellow human beings. The Golden Rule, as the call to love one another, is the universal message of all faiths, the commandment of all religions. We must, then, take seriously the religion we embrace and, at the same time, maintain a deep respect for religions which are different from ours. 'Ecumenism' means just that, to live peaceably with religions, religious confessions and churches different from ours. 'Religious fundamentalism,' instead, is pursued by those who consider as the only certain one their way of understanding a religion and that all other ways, as well as other religions, have to be fought. This is as absurd as to say that the language I speak is the only one that expresses the true meaning of words.
The one who is faithful to God recognizes the neighbor, even the one who denies God's very existence, as a person created in the divine image and likeness.
Let us promote a culture of dialogue. We must demonstrate how religious belief inspires peace, encourages solidarity, promotes justice and upholds freedom. Pope John Paul II
Does that mean that, in ecumenical dialogue, the Church is now saying that one religion is as good as another? Or that 'mission' as 'evangelization', (the proclamation of Christ's Good News), is now outmoded? If one applies the old model of mission, which focused on building a church community and gaining membership, then the de-emphasis on the making of converts might suggest such a conclusion. The truth is that, as Catholic Christians, we share the same impulse as committed persons of any faith.
We, Christians, find our meaning and our life in Jesus Christ, the Good News. Since he continues to touch and transform us, we radically proclaim his living reality when- ever we are touching into the deep places of our souls. And when we speak deeply to others, Jesus will be at the center of our discussion. This is what it means to be a convinced believer.
If Christ touches us, he changes us, converts us, turns us around. In conversation with others, we offer them the opportunity of a new kind of life in relationship to Jesus, the center of our life; we invite them also to change.
Missionaries are sent to do just that. A sign of a true missionary is that s/he loves the people whose life s/he shares. If we love the person we are with, we will share with him/her what is deepest in our life - our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Clearly, we have to live down some events in our history in which what was proclaimed was not Jesus Christ, but a church exerting power on an imperial or colonial model. Such behavior came from having our vision distorted by culture and pride, and it has engendered suspicion and hatred in cultures that were on the receiving end.
In Pope John Paul II, the Church has apologized for such behavior and sought reconciliation. We hope that we have more clarity now, recognizing that there is something of God in all religions, yet knowing that the fullness of what people seek can be found only in Jesus.
As the Pope put it, we must proclaim the novelty of Christ, "a gift which is for all, and is to all, proposed with the greatest respect for everyone's liberty." Even if the differences are perceived as insurmountable, all men and women, all cultures, are within the great and only plan of God, in Christ Jesus.
We, Xaverian Missionaries, strive to be part of that plan together with the people of whom we are guests, together with Christian communities, and together with individuals and groups the world over who seek the same ideal, "we want to make of humankind one only family," (14th Xaverian General Chapter, Mexico, 2000).
The missionary who goes to Africa, Asia, or Latin America, to Europe or to North America, must learn, understand, respect and love, from the inside, as much as possible, the culture of the people to which s/he is sent. The missionary must enter tiptoe into the land to which s/he goes to bring the Good News. S/he cannot move in as an elephant in a china shop knocking down whatever it touches. Another's culture must be respected because it is the fruit of a people's journey. A missionary who, on entering another culture, criticizes and judges negatively the customs, beliefs and practices of those people, would soon be cut off by the people themselves.
To dialogue one must respect and esteem the interlocutor whom God has made in the divine image and our neighbor.
(From Xaverian Mission Newsletter)